Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says Olympiacos defeat 'hurts a lot' as Gunners crash out of Europa League

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Malik Ouzia @MalikOuzia_27 February 2020

Mikel Arteta bemoaned Arsenal’s set-piece vulnerability after they crashed out of the Europa League, admitting: “It hurts a lot”.

The Gunners were knocked out on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate draw with Greek side Olympiacos and now have the Premier League as their only route to Champions League qualification.

Arteta’s side had won the first-leg 1-0 in Athens but were taken to extra-time by a Pape Abou Cisse’s header, and then eliminated in dramatic fashion as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s stunning overhead kick was cancelled out by Youcef El Arabi’s 119th minute strike.

As had been the case in the 3-2 win over Everton at the weekend, both goals Arsenal conceded came from set-pieces, the second a corner needlessly given away by goalkeeper Bernd Leno, leaving Arteta exasperated.

Getty Images

"It hurts a lot,” he told BT Sport. “We had a lot of intentions in this competition. It was very important for us. Emotionally it has been a very difficult game.

"We tried and tried and tried, we threw everything at them. They defended very deep. We managed to score though and we were through but then we conceded a late corner and it was another set piece.

"To attack against 10 players is a very difficult thing. I felt we created enough chances to win the game comfortably. It didn't happen but we had to manage the game much better in the final five minutes."

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